Thursday, September 30, 2010

Were going back to the eastside of Chi to the Mexican Inn, a staple of the area, its been at the corner of 95th and Ewing along the Lake Michigan Circle tour route since 1961 and owned by the same family since then too. This is a spot I have been intrigued with since my high school days of going to Michigan City and taking US Route 12/20 and passing by this locals favorite that always caught my eye with its past era looks. A food friend of mine from LTH who knows more about southside Chicago and its food history than everyone else combined said the place is "a culinary museum, dishing up food exactly like they served in the '60s and '70s" and that's exactly how it looks from the outside when cruising by. I cant verify it but I've also heard that this might be Chicago's longest running Mexican restaurant which is impressive since we have as many as anyplace outside Mexico. I stopped in a while back to the triangular building to finally knock this spot off my list and I am glad to bring it back to my readers.

a locals favorite in Hegewisch/Eastside of Chicago

When I stopped in here with another buddy of mine we got the same feeling the outside gives you upon walking inside. It feels like stepping back into time with the classic Tex-Mex cafeteria feeling to it. Its hard to believe that Mexican food didn't really become popular in the US until the 60's and even then the food we called Mexican was more like Tex-Mex and yes there is a difference and both are very good in they're own right. Since then we have seen not just Mexican food like tacos and tortas pop up all over but been lucky enough to have all sorts of selection with different regional variations served at different restaurants throughout Chicagoland. Today however we visit one of Chicago's old school Mexican joints that very much has that Tex-Mex flare in both the menu and ambiance. You wont find anything you've never seen or eaten before on it's menu but that doesn't mean its not worth a mention.

Inside the Inn

I've mentioned it on here before but I'll say it again in case your not familiar with the neighborhood Mexican In is located in, it is very old school and one of the few neighborhoods in Chicago that feels like not much has changed. This goes for both the houses and businesses as well as other things that make the eastside a place I enjoy going to. We visited the Inn around 430p one evening and when we entered we were the only two people in there under 30. There was nobody in the 31-59 age range and everyone else was over 60 most eating dinner. Like I said about the neighborhood, not much has changed including the people, lots of old timers. Like any good sitdown Mexican joint your a started with chips and salsa on the house as you are given your menus. The salsas arent pictured but were what you would expect them to be like back in the 60's. They are housemade and I enjoyed them and so do regulars who buy containers to go. The menu has expanded over the years but we were there for the Tex-Mex like menu items for the most part and that's what we were going to order. Here is a rundown of our meal, eat by eat.

Steak tacos

^We started out by ordering two steak tacos with the traditional condiments of onion and cilantro on its customary corn tortilla just to compare what those were like to other authentic Mexican taquerias around town. While they weren't awful they were nothing special. Steak was made on a griddle as opposed to the favored way of a grill and not something I'd get again.

Shredded beef taco with lettuce, tomato on flour tortilla

^I enjoyed these tacos which are regularly made by mothers all throughout Texas and other places where AmeriMex is popular. Pretty typical with its toppings and flavor and served on a flour tortilla which is the more common used tortilla in Tex-Mex recipes. While they weren't order yourself a few more good they were homey and the taste came without the slaving and cooking in the kitchen.

Crispy hard shell ground beef tacos

^My favorite item of the visit. Another Tex-Mex staple you just cant find these many places anymore and the spots that do have them use those awful store bought hard shells and are too lazy to fry them fresh. Sure just like the taco above its a simple recipe and the ground beef could be seasoned up a notch but the combination of the beef with the lettuce, tomato and cheese on a fresh fried hard shell taco does it for me. Yes they're easy to make at home but I would eat these there too just like the locals do if I lived in the area.

Tamales with gravy

^Once again we have a menu item that's more Tex-Mex than Mexican. Yes tamales are Mexican and made everywhere in Mexico, these tamales were made like those served at Tex-Mex joints and made with a corn meal batter and had a thin and almost crumbly outer layer. I'm not an exert in real Tex-Mex from Texas but I do make alot of recipes using Robb Walsh's Tex-Mex cookbook which is legit as it gets. I liked these but thought the gravy could have been better. Again it wasn't seasoned enough and blander than I like but also again they weren't bad.

Ground Beef enchiladas

^Well, well once again we have a popular item in Tex-Mex cuisine. Although enchiladas are eaten in various parts of Mexico the style of Mexican Inn's version was in the style of enchiladas I would put in the Tex-Mex category. The gravy was pretty much the same stuff they used on the tamales so they didn't wow me but they were eaten.

Soft Cheese (tortilla w/ choice of filling topped with their special cheese sauce)

^I thought these were interesting, I wouldn't have them again but then again I didn't grow up on these since I'm not from the area. The family that owns Mexican Inn is from Mexico but when they opened the restaurant it was these type of dishes Americans recognized as Mexican and were going crazy for so most of these items were on the original menu and are not what most Mexicans eat. As time has gone by and Chicago has seen its Mexican population rise they have been able to add more authentic items they make for family dinners to the menu but have kept the original ones and the original customers have kept coming back. The family travels back to Mexico each year so the place is closed from January thru March. I love it for its character as much as anything. There arent many places like this that have survived time. If you ever drive by the triangular building and see the "Mexican Inn" neon, stop in for a hard shell taco or two.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Eating like a local:Regional food specialties-Fresh Whitefish in a Wisconsin tavern up north

I got to spend a week way up north in and around Bayfield, Wisconsin over the summer. It was my second trip to the little quiet town of Bayfield which is on Lake Superior is the gateway to the Apostle Islands and has been named the best small town in America by numerous publications. Like they say on the website "How far away is Bayfield? Just far enough" Its actually about eight hours from Chicago but your taken to a place with pristine beauty and a total stress free environment. Its a very popular spring/summer/fall getaway destination and a place I love going to so I can sit back, relax and catch a contact. Your going to have to wait for my full on report sometime this spring. I'm so backed up in posts and thought it should wait since winter is almost here. But the busiest weekend in Bayfield I learned on my visit was the annual Applefest when the small town becomes a huge party with every hotel room within a 30 mile radius reserved for the weekend of fun. So if your heading up there this year or in the future I got a bar for you that's a great little place to eat and drink in the heart of the town.

Morty's Pub in Bayfield, WI

We stopped in here on my visit over summer one night for some food and drink and ended up having a great night and it was one of our favorite easy going meals of the trip. The menu here for drinks was nice and they had a pretty damn good mojito and some nice WI micros on tap. We ended up drinking both of those and started with an order of fried pickles off the appetizer section of the menu. The entree part and the rest of the menu for that matter isn't all that big but it doesn't matter because its the Lake Superior whitefish your going to want to get. Its a popular eat in these parts and they do it up in a variety of styles at Morty's.

View from my seat at the bar

Really nice mojitos, great on the hot summer day we were drinking them

Fried pickle spears

As you can read in the shot of the pub from the outside up above, Lake Superior whitefish is their specialty and its delivered fresh every morning from local fishers. This is about as fresh as you can get since the lake and the dock for the fishing boats is about a block away from the pub. They do an excellent fried version of whitefish which is what we had on our visit. Everything was fresh battered by hand including the fried pickles we had as an app. The fish didn't disappoint and it never has when I've been up there. The fries were well done and the slaw was a perfect accompaniment and was also homemade and really fresh. The skin on the fish was my favorite part due to its expert frying it was really crispy and crunchy. If you ever find yourself in Bayfield you'll know every restaurant and bar after a couple visits and Morty's is a great stop for lunch or dinner with some drinks and friendly chat with locals. Looking forward to my return visit.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

It's time to sit back, relax and catch a contact as we throw some meat in the smoker on low and enjoy the beautiful fall weather with some real deal bbq. As an avid smoker I have gone thru many trials and tribulations in trying to reach the top and get to to that point where the making of bomb ass bbq is as routine as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then I was enlightened with all the knowledge one needs to perfect the art of bbq along with top notch tips and dispelling of the myths. In come's Low & Slow. Written by the Godfather of Chicago bbq it is a book any and every bbq cook and connoisseur needs in his/her collection. GWiv is a friend of mine and his wealth of knowledge when it comes to smokin' is second to none in these parts.

I've been lucky enough to have done some smokin' first hand with Gary and it's always a blast capped off with some unbelievable bbq. His book will teach you everything you need to know to get perfectly smoked meat each and every time. It's broken down into five lessons and has instructions for smokin' with a offset smoker, a kettle grill and his toy of choice a Weber Smokey Mountain. In fact he likes the Smokey Mountain and knows how to use it down to a science that he wrote the manual for them. He's come to find that this product is the most reliable and easiest to use and once you get it down pat, it creates the best smoked meats. But it doesn't matter what you use as long as you follow the instructions exactly as he says too. This book is so helpful it will even tell you how to set a fire for your pit in the middle of a Chicago winter along with over 130 recipes and step by step instructions.

Smoke meat everyday...

Gary has spent years mastering his meats and has everything a pro at this game would have including his own rub. After years of playing around with different formula's he settled on his self named rub which is a wonderfully spicy mixture of seasonings that truly is some of the best rub I have ever used. You can find a similar recipe for this crazy good concoction in his book or if you can also get it from The Spice House where they make it fresh and a re sworn to secrecy with the recipe for fear of death. I always grab a few bottles whenever I stop in over there for spices. You can click HERE to go straight to their page for it. I highly recommend you put this in your spice cupboard. The stuff works great on all meats and in chili and anything else it sounds good with.

The bbq life coaches own bottle of his ridiculous rub

Now I'm not going to sit here and type out the entire book with how to make say the moistest most finger licking smoked chicken you will ever have. If you want to get yourself a life lesson in bbq for less than what it costs to have a meal of it at restaurant/stand your going to have to grab it and have it for whenever the craving for it comes along. Gary is a master of all meats and that's evident in the lesson for brines which includes a buttermilk version that when used with chicken thighs produces the best bbq chicken I have ever had from anywhere.

Buttermilk brined bbq chicken thighs

Gary has made 1000's and 1000's of different batches of ribs and so he knows what needs to be done whether were talking baby back, spare, St. Louis style. If you get the book and follow the leader and take it step by step to the exact instructions you can be a ribmaster in no time and the star of Sunday football bbq's. I prefer spare ribs and recently made a batch of St. Louis style following the coaches words. They turned out flawless with the perfect balance of smoke flavor and just the right amount of resistance of the meat from coming off the bone. I want some right now and just might make some for tonight.

St. Louis spare rib's done low & slow

Low & Slow Lamb Ribs

I do however have a recipe to share with everyone from GWiv. This is one I got to try when we were chilling over at Toons one night and he brought by some of his lamb ribs that he made earlier that day. Well they were so good I had to make them for myself a week or so later and did just that and am going to show y'all what the godfather showed me.

1) Start off by removing the tips from the lamb breast so that you have a rack of ribs like those seen in the pic below. Save the tips for an appetizer.

2) Take your rub (I used GWiv's) and rub it into the ribs and follow that up by squirting a line of yellow mustard down the middle and then spreading it around. Doing this vice versa is fine too.

Lamb ribs cut and ready for smoker

3) Set your smoker for low and slow cooking so that its around a constant temp of 250 degrees which is what we want the temp to be when the ribs are going in. Take your lamb tips and season them up with whatever you want and put them in a aluminum foil cooking pan and put those on the bottom rack and the ribs on top (we want the fat from the ribs to drip onto the tips).

4) After about 2 hours on the smoker at a steady temp of 250 the tips should be done. Mop them up a few minutes before taking them off and enjoy while waiting for the ribs to be done or save them for part of the full meal when the rest of it is ready. Make sure your sides are taken care of.

Lamb rib tips

I made baked 'tatos with a tzatziki cole slaw and fresh sliced tomatoes

5) After three hours in the smoker at 250 the ribs should be ready. remove them and let sit for a few minutes while you dress up plates with the sides and proceed to put a rack on each plate for each guest.

Smoked lamb ribs________________________________________

So if you too want to master the art of BBQ. What are you waiting for? CLICK HERE.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Most everyone already knows that the Chicagoland area is now the home to a Chick fil A. The first store to open in the area is in Aurora with another opening in Orland Park next month and then the city gets its first in the fall of 2011 when a location open in Lincoln Park. It's said the company is scouting a third location along Michigan ave or in the Water Tower and they will hope to have a dozen in the area within the next five years. Until the opening of these recent ones the closest locations were in Racine, WI and South Bend, IN. To give you an idea of peoples passion for Chick fil A you can click HERE and check out video of people camping out at the Aurora location so they can have free chicken sandwiches for a year (a promotion they run).

Location in South Bend, IN

Birthplace: Atlanta, GAType: PrivateFounded in: First Chick fil A opened in 1967How Many Today: Over 800 unitsLocations in: Most American statesMenu item that made them: The Chicken SandwichMy personal take: If you get to an actual store (not a unit at the mall, hospital, food court etc..) the chicken sandwiches are great and the chicken biscuits served in the morning are my favorite fast food item.

I've been waiting for Chick Fil A to make its way around my parts for a while now. Even though I am a little freaked out by their religious obsession I cant say their chicken sandwiches arent great fast food. They have the right model in that they pick something (chicken) and they do it well. No burgers or non chicken choices on the menu. They have a chicken sandwich and it comes on a biscuit in the morning and a bun in the afternoon. You can get a few other choices in chicken form which include chargrilled sandwiches and salads and wraps, strips and nuggets which are all made fresh. The iced tea is also brewed fresh daily and really refreshing and when the peach shakes are on the menu they are must get, one of the best shakes from anywhere.

Chicken nuggets are the best in fast food

If I'm traveling a major interstate or I'm stuck in chainland USA I have no problem taking my ass to Chick fil A. I think that their original chicken sandwich (with mayo and pickles) is better than most fried chicken sandwiches I have had. The fries are waffle style and nothing special in my book but people love them. They also offer it served deluxe with lettuce and tomato which I tried once (when I took these pics) and never again. You gotta get it traditional and its my observation that the full restaurants/drive thru's like the one seen above are better than the units in mall food courts and places like that. One reason is they serve breakfast at the big locations and not at all of the smaller units. The chicken biscuit available in the morning is my favorite fast food item and something I want regularly. Its just awesome and I haven't found anything like it anywhere else. I'm not a big fast food eater but I stop when I see a Chick fil A.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Good morning, how is everyone today? Everyone getting settled in with Fall and football season? I know I am. I want to go to Great Seas restaurant today 'cause its a place I've been meaning to post about for well over a year now. Located in Albany Park along Lawrence ave its a very unassuming little spot on a block with many of them. The area is one of Chicago's most ethnic one's with there being many Latin Americans and Asians specifically Mexicans and Koreans and thus alot of dining places featuring these styles of cuisines.

In the Albany Park neighborhood

I was put onto Great Seas by the Godfather himself GWiv who sang high praise about their popular Korean style chicken wings. After doing a websearch I came to see that he wasn't the only one who had love for the wings from here. It's been a while since I've been but this post will get me back there sometime in the very near future. I went with another friend of mine who is a wing fiend and we knew it was on when upon entering inside the little corridor the wall was plastered with pictures of people and how many of these famous wings they put down on their visit when the pic was taken. Just for the record at the time we went which was over a year ago, the record was 86 wings downed in one sitting.

Anyone out there going to try for the record?

Great Seas has a Chinese menu with some other Asian country dishes like the famous wings which are Korean. I was told by GWiv and what seemed like everyone else who reviewed the place online that this was a one dish spot. You go here for the wings and you eat alot of them and that's it. Since these were the words of many we decided on just the wings and went with some egg rolls to see how true this judgment was. Based on the egg rolls the words are true. I find it hard to accept a place that cant put out a good housemade egg roll which is something that shouldn't be too hard to do. These were just bad.

egg rolls

But we weren't there for the rolls and I wasn't disappointed because I wasn't expecting them to be much, we were there for the wings. For every review of how the rest of the menu sucked there was a glowing one about the house special Korean fried wings. So these I was expecting big things from and just like how I got what I expected from the egg rolls, I got what I reckoned I would from the wings. BOMB indeed and well worth the trip there just for these. The old family recipe for Korean chicken wings from the people who own Great Seas has a cult following and I am one of the people in it.

Platter of wings from Great Seas

The wings here are served lollipop style where the meat is removed from the bottom part of the drummette. They are thus very easy to eat and it helps out due to the fact these wings are some the stickiest, crispiest most sweet and spicy tasting things you will ever eat. I thought they were one of the best things I'd eaten when we had them and as is evidence from this site I eat well. They were tangy and had a nice citrusy taste to them and I couldn't go thru enough. I didn't try for the record but I did get another order of them and was happy to take some home for later. Surprisingly enough they were almost as good as leftovers, still crispy and great cut up and mixed in with the white rice included in each order. I'm going to be getting back here very soon and would suggest you do the same. I wouldn't disagree with anyone who calls these the best non Buffalo wings in the city because they really are that good.

Friday, September 17, 2010

School is back in session around Chicago college campuses and with it comes hungry students and an increase in business for their neighborhood eateries. It was a year or two back when Lincoln Park saw three different hot dog stands pop up outta nowhere. I've been to all of them a few times now and am going to feature Chicago's Dog House in today's Hot dog Stand tour. Its on Fullerton right across from Depaul University at the Lincoln, Halsted and Fullerton intersection. In a little over a year they have developed quite a fanbase of which includes myself.

In the heart of Lincoln Park/Depaul

The Dog House was started by a a few friends from the neighborhood who wanted to bring the Depaul students as well as neighborhood residents a hot dog stand for when the cravings for 'em came. The duo decided to hell with the desk life when they graduated college and came up with Chicago's Dog House which features a great selection of specialty hot dogs, Chicago style, Polish sausage as well as different gourmet sausages and a few sandwiches and burgers. Inside this place is your average Chicago Hot Dog Stand taken up another notch. Its got some funk to it and fits in well with the college feel of the area. There are a few tables as well as some stools along the window for people to dine in and take out is popular and a quick quality option if in the area.

The menu for Hot Dogs and Sandwiches

Gourmet sausages are ordered from local butchers and can switch

I've been to the Dog House countless times since it opened and when I didn't have a car for a few months it really satisfied my chow cravings. So I've been going here for a while now and have come to try many different items but am still working my way thru the entire menu. The first thing I had to try from here was going to be the "Chicago style" dog and of course that would be with fries. I think this was a good way to see whats up with the place and what they were offering. Chicago's uses Vienna Beef hot dogs and they grill them before topping them with your standard Chicago style toppings. I was quite impressed with theirs because I prefer my dog grilled when I'm getting it Chicago style with the whole nine yards of tomato's, pickles, peppers etc...I've had quite a few Chicago styles since but am always trying to explore the menu. One dog I wont be trying is the Blagojevich which comes with ketchup (opening bid is a $1000). Notice the chip's? or as they're called at Chicago's Dog House, frips.

Chicago Style with Frips

You ever order those fresh made chips at your local state fair or carnival? You know the ones where they take a potato and put it thru a drill and it comes out as one big piece which is then throw into a deep fryer and cooked for a couple minutes then served to you? Basically fresh as it gets potato chips so they have a fry like taste to them hence the name frips. Well that's what they got instead of fries and I think that's pretty damn cool and creative. You can watch them drill the potato and throw it in the fryer just like at the state fair and they're also pretty damn good and helluvaddicting.

Frips are a cross between fries and chips

You'll see on the menu pictured up above their are a selection of specialty hot dogs which are grilled Vienna Beef wieners topped with non traditional Chicago style condiments. I've been thru a good portion of them and have a few that I have gotten on multiple visits. One of those is the Snoop Dog which comes with chili, cheese and onions and is a fine example of a chili cheese dog and the grilled wiener goes great with them. Another standout is their corn dog which is freshly battered. I also like the Mayor Daley which can be seen below. Let me take you thru a few that I have tried and recommend that you get over there and do the same. Its a nice addition to the old neighborhood and a worthy late nite option on weekends if drinking in the area.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Its been a while since we had breakfast here at S'C'&C but with the colder months ahead I thought I'd share one of my favorite spots for it. Its the perfect example of the "don't judge a book by its cover" saying because from the outside it looks like nothing much, nor does it look like much inside, but its whats going on in the kitchen space over at Patty's Diner that makes it so special. Run by Patty and her sisters they are the tag team of breakfast champions. They might not always have a smile on their face (although service is always great) but they always cook with love and passion. Its not just no frills in looks and service but its also got the goin' on's of a classic American diner with its menu options and hours of operation which are for breakfast and lunch only. It's located in the Chicago suburb of Skokie. So many people just cruise on by and have no idea what they're missing out on but those in the know are all regulars.

a locals favorite in Skokie, IL

Patty is the woman behind the madness and does practically all of the cooking by herself. Its all in the family as her sisters wait tables and take care of the other needs around the restaurant. I call it madness because on a busy day you will walk in and choose to sit at the tables on one side or up at the bar on the other. I love sitting at the bar and watching Patty take to task order after order and not miss a beat. It looks like shes just running back and forth like a kid with ADD on Kool Aid but that's not the case, shes cooking her tail off to make sure you've had at least one amazing meal to chow down on the day you visit her.

There's always something good cooking over at Patty's

The menu at Patty's place is classic American diner fare. The stuff that used to be served everywhere way back in the day. I'm talking about all the breakfast regulars like pancakes along with eggs & bacon, corned beef hash that is made to order, creamed turkey with real mashed potatoes, hand-patted burgers. I'm talking the whole nine yards. In fact I can promise you will be seeing Patty's again here on chibbqking and that's because I love going there but I cant refrain from ordering the same item each and every time. There's only been a couple times when I didn't make the same order as I always do. If you see something on the menu that you are a big fan of, get it! It will be good. I've never heard feedback of the bad kind about Patty's Diner.

Biscuits & Gravy

Well when I was saying they take no shortcuts there I meant it in every sense. Too many places nowadays surpass doing it like they used to for quicker and cheaper ways of doing so. In the case of ham this practice is way too common. Barely any spots use real ham off the bone anymore when making dishes involving the southern favorite. If you sit at the stools while dining in you'll notice a big old hunk of ham to your left near the back which is the basis for any dish I order at Patty's. Ham is just one of those things that you gotta have the real way aka no cut up deli meats or anything pre-diced and lacking the deep in depth flavor real ham off the bone can have. If your a fan of ham then you really wanna check out Patty's and order one of her dishes that includes it.

Ham on the bone ready for cutting when needed

I'm not a big time breakfast eater but I do enjoy it when I get a chance to eat at a place like Patty's. I like a breakfast sandwich no matter what time of the day it is and just in case you didn't know, it is Patty's where you can find the best sandwich of this kind. I've had many breakfast sammy's during my days and none can come close to what Patty brings when the craving for a meat of choice, egg and cheese sandwich comes a calling. I have to have me a ham, egg and cheese pretty much every visit I make. They are that good. Its starts with the ham sliced fresh off the bone and crisped to perfect perfection and then they put an egg cooked to your desired doneness and melt some cheese and stuff it inside a glorious homemade bun that makes this sandwich one of the absolute best of any kind in Chicago and one of my all time favorites. Go check Patty and her sisters out and you'll become a regular in no time.

Ham, egg and cheese sandwich served on a heavenly bun...I'm drooling as I type this

Patty's Diner3358 Main St. (just West of McCormick)Skokie, IL 60076(847) 675-4274